Winter Olympics 2010: Nodar Kumaritashvili warned of luge course dangers.  Nodar Kumaritashvili’s father has revealed his son rang him before he was killed during luge training at the Vancouver Olympics to say he thought the track was too dangerous. 

Kumaritashvili died last Friday when he crashed into a metal pillar after losing control of his sled at more than 90 mph during a practice run. The course has since been altered, but David Kumaritashvili, a former luger himself, said his son had voiced concerns about the track.

“He called me before the Olympics, three days ago, and he said, ‘Dad, I’m scared of one of the turns’,” David said.

 “I said put your legs down on the ice to slow down but he said if he started the course he would finish it. … He was brave.

“His whole life he wanted to be an athlete, it was his dream to be at the Olympics. He was so excited about going; I’ve never seen him so excited in his entire life. He was ready for the Olympics, he was a real clean-living sportsman.”

Adamant he would not watch the video footage of his son’s death, David said his family was at a complete loss as to why the tragedy happened.

Nodar’s death has been recorded as an accident by a coroner in Vancouver, but David believes the course allowed for competitors to travel too fast.

“I don’t know anything about why it happened,” he said. “I don’t know if it was the track or if it was a mistake. But I know that he should never have been going that fast; that kind of speed is too much in this sport.”

Georgian Luger Dies after Horrifying Crash, that occurred to a Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritsashvili, during a trial run.  Coming around one of the bends, his luge flung him off the track, sending him somersaulting through the air and ultimately, into a steel pillar on the other side.   We should warn you that this video is not for the faint of heart.

Apparently, after repeated CPR attempts, Nodar was airlifted by helicopter off the course, and later pronounced dead.  He was 21-years old and competing in his first Olympics.

This will almost certainly bring about some heated debates regarding the safety of the luge courses.  They are lacquered up to the max and have caused numerous accidents in the past, including a less serious crash on the same turn earlier today.  It’s a damn shame that a fatal accident such as this will finally get them to reconsider the safety standards.

The trial courses have been shut down and the federation is currently in meetings all day — presumably discussing what the next move should be.

The last time someone has died on the course during the games was in 1964 when both an Australian skier died and, what do you know, a British luger were involved in life ending accidents

Debate: do the Winter Olympics push athletes too far?  The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili has served as a reminder of the risks winter athletes face. With safety measures being called into question and the course being altered as a result of the tragedy – are competitors being pushed too far in their bid to win a gold medal?

Questions have been raised regarding the safety of athletes at the Winter Olympics, with Great Britain’s Adam Rosen admitting male lugers should not have encountered a course as fast and extreme as they did in Canada. In the days before Nodar-Kumaritashvili’s death there were more than 12 reported crashes on the course – one of which left Roma nian athlete Violeta Stramaturaru unconscious and ultimately led to her withdrawing from the competition. Fifteen months ago, when athletes were permitted restricted access to the Canadian course, it is understood there were a total of 73 crashes, but few changes appear to have been made to the course. Last Thursday, Australian luger Hannah Campbell-Pegg suggested that things had gone too far in certain sports – particularly luge.“I think they are pushing it a little too much,” she said. “To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we’re crash-test dummies?” she said. “I mean, this is our lives.”In December, American snowboarder Kevin Pearce was critically injured during a half-pipe practice session. He was attempting a “Double McTwist 1260” manoeuvre pioneered by reigning Olympic champion Shaun White, who says high-risk tricks in his sport are not getting out of hand. “We drive around in cars and that’s pretty dangerous but we still do it.”

Do winter sports need an element of danger to survive, or should the safety of competitors be the most important thing?

The Winter Olympic Games are a winter multi-sport event held every four years. They feature winter sports held on snow or ice, such as Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, bobsledding and ice hockey. Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been competed at every Winter Olympics since 1924. Other athletic events have been added as the Games have progressed. Some of these events, such as luge, short track speed skating, and freestyle skiing have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic programme. Others, like speed skiing, bandy, and skijöring have been demonstration sports but never incorporated officially as an Olympic sport.

Fewer countries participate in the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Prior to this, figure skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Olympics. The Games were held every four years from 1924 until 1940 when they were interrupted by World War II. The Winter and Summer Games resumed in 1948 and were celebrated on the same year until 1992. At that time the Winter Games split from the Summer Games, and were begun to be celebrated on alternating even years. The first Winter Olympic Games to be held on this new schedule was in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway.

The Winter Games have undergone significant changes since their inception. The rise of television as a global medium for communication has greatly enhanced the profile of the Games. It has also created an income stream in the form of the sale of broadcast rights and advertising, which has become very lucrative. This has allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to influence various aspects of the Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has had to address several internal scandals, and the use of performance enhancing drugs by Winter Olympic athletes. The Winter Games have also been used by countries to demonstrate the claimed superiority of their political systems.

Many countries have hosted the Winter Olympics multiple times. The United States has hosted the Games four times, more than any other country. France has been host three times.  Austria, Canada, Italy, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland have hosted the Games twice. The next Games will be hosted by Sochi, Russia in 2014. This will be the first time that Russia hosts the Winter Olympic Games.

In 2003 the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics. With a population of more than 2.5 million people, Vancouver will be the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games.  Vancouver is a low-altitude, seaport city with a relatively mild oceanic climate. Most of the venues will be located in the Vancouver metropolitan area, with the exception of the alpine, Nordic, and sliding events, which will be held in Whistler.

The decision for the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics was made on 4 July 2007. Sochi, Russia, was elected as the host city over the other two finalists: Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. Sochi will be the first city with a subtropical climate to host the Winter Games.   The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium will be located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues will be 50 kilometres (30 mi) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana.

Map of Winter Olympics locations

Games	Year	Host	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Ref
					Total	Men	Women
I	1924	Chamonix, France	25 January – 5 February	16	258	247	11	6	16	[6]
II	1928	St. Moritz, Switzerland	11–19 February	25	464	438	26	4	14	[12]
III	1932	Lake Placid, United States	4–15 February	17	252	231	21	4	14	[14]
IV	1936	Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany	6–16 February	28	646	566	80	4	17	[16]
1940		Originally awarded to Sapporo, Japan, cancelled because of World War II.
1944		Originally awarded to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, cancelled because of World War II.
V	1948	St. Moritz, Switzerland	30 January – 8 February	28	669	592	77	4	22	[136]
VI	1952	Oslo, Norway	14–25 February	30	694	585	109	4	22	[24]
VII	1956	Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy	26 January – 5 February	32	821	687	134	4	24	[29]
VIII	1960	Squaw Valley, United States	18–28 February	30	665	521	144	4	27	[137]
IX	1964	Innsbruck, Austria	29 January – 9 February	36	1091	892	199	6	34	[33]
X	1968	Grenoble, France	6–18 February	37	1158	947	211	6	35	[36]
XI	1972	Sapporo, Japan	3–13 February	35	1006	801	205	6	35	[138]
XII	1976	Innsbruck, Austria	4–15 February	37	1123	892	231	6	37	[43]
XIII	1980	Lake Placid, United States	13–24 February	37	1072	840	232	6	38	[139]
XIV	1984	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	8–19 February	49	1272	998	274	6	39	[48]
XV	1988	Calgary, Canada	13–28 February	57	1423	1122	301	6	46	[50]
XVI	1992	Albertville, France	8–23 February	64	1801	1313	488	7	57	[53]
XVII	1994	Lillehammer, Norway	12–27 February	67	1737	1215	522	6	61	[56]
XVIII	1998	Nagano, Japan	7–22 February	72	2176	1389	787	7	68	[62]
XIX	2002	Salt Lake City, United States	8–24 February	77	2399	1513	886	7	78	[65]
XX	2006	Turin, Italy	10–26 February	80	2508	1548	960	7	84	[69]
XXI	2010	Vancouver, Canada	12–28 February	ongoing event
XXII	2014	Sochi, Russia	7–23 February	future event
XXIII	2018	TBD (2011)	TBD	future event
XXIV	2022	TBD (2015)	TBD	future event

Note: Unlike the Summer Olympics, the cancelled 1940 Winter Olympics and 1944 Winter Olympics are not included in the official Roman numeral counts for the Winter Games. While the official titles of the Summer Games actually count Olympiads (which occur even if the Games do not), the official titles of the Winter Games only count the Games themselves.

VIỆT THỨC [Source: Telegraph.co.uk & combined doc.]